REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Guardant360® assay, the leading comprehensive liquid biopsy, will be used as the sole liquid biopsy in LC-SCRUM-Japan, a nationwide genomic screening network run by the National Cancer Center Hospital East (NCCE) Kashiwa, Japan to match metastatic lung cancer patients with approved drugs and experimental therapies in clinical trials.

"We are excited to be working with NCCE Japan to help advanced lung cancer patients obtain access to approved drugs or enroll in clinical trials," said Guardant Health Co-Founder and CEO Helmy Eltoukhy. "The prevalence of genomic alterations in lung cancer is high in Japan, but tissue samples from lung tumors can be difficult, expensive, and risky to acquire. With a simple blood draw, NCC Japan can more easily test patients and match them with the appropriate drug."

LC-SCRUM-Japan has been screening patients for targeted therapies in Japan since 2013 using tissue samples for genomic analysis. To date, more than 5,700 genetic screening tests have been performed, and patients identified with genetic alterations have been enrolled in many targeted therapy clinical trials. This new arm is the first to include genomic analysis of blood samples through a comprehensive liquid biopsy. More than 1,000 samples will be collected in Japan and sent to Guardant Health's Redwood City lab for analysis.

"I believe introducing Guardant360 into LC-SCRUM-Japan will help make it possible to deliver effective therapeutic agents to more patients and accelerate adoption of personalized medicine in Japan," said Koichi Goto, MD, PhD, Chief of the Department of Thoracic Oncology at National Cancer Center Hospital East.

Guardant360 is a comprehensive liquid biopsy that helps oncologists select the optimal treatment for advanced cancer patients without the need for an invasive tissue biopsy. Guardant360 has been extensively validated and is supported by more than 20 clinical outcome studies. It is available in more than 30 countries.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health is focused on conquering cancer by using its breakthrough blood-based assays, vast data sets, and advanced analytics. Using both molecular and digital tools, Guardant Health is addressing challenges across the cancer care continuum. The company has raised more than $500 million from leading investors. Its first product, the Guardant360 assay, came to market in 2014, and is now the most widely ordered comprehensive liquid biopsy commercially available and available in more than 30 countries. In 2016, it announced Project LUNAR, an effort to apply Guardant Health's technology platform to early detection, recurrence monitoring, and assessing minimal residual disease. Guardant Health and Guardant360 are registered trademarks of Guardant Health, Inc. Learn more at www.guardanthealth.com.